As soon as Elena commanded the catapults to volley fire, the catapults readjusted their positions in a zig-zag pattern.
The catapults in the front positions, started first.
*SWOOOSH*
*SWOOOSH*
*SWOOSH*
*SWOOOSH*
Then, once their bombs hit and exploded....
*BOOOM*
*BOOOOM*
*BOOOM*
*BOOM*
The front catapults reloaded.
Meanwhile, the rear catapults immediately fired as soon as the front started reloading.
*SWOOOSH*
*SWOOSH*
*SWOOOSH*
*SWOOOSH*
Once the bombs landed and exploded....
*BOOOOM*
*BOOM*
BOOOOOM*
The front catapults were ready and now shot again.
And so, the cycle continues.
****
The encampment's nightmare had just begun.
As soon as the catapults started volley firing, a barrage of bombs rained down on the encampment.
Some missed, but most were on target.
The mages were unable to do much.
They could only spend their mana on constantly maintaining a barrier spell.
Fortunately for them, unlike an artifact's spell, they could freely manage the size of their barriers.
Thus, with the combined powers of five 3rd Circle mages and one 4th Circle mage, they could maintain a circular barrier with a 100 meter diameter.
Unfortunately for them, this barrier could not cover the entire encampment.
It could at most shelter some 40,000ish lucky goblins.
Unless a goblin was an Aura-wielding knight, their chance of survival outside of the barrier was almost nil.
Soon, a minute had passed and the bombings hadn't stopped at all.
"What is happening?!" Yelled one of the five 3rd Circle mages.
"It must be a 9th Circle archmage's Meteor Barrage spell!!" Yelled another disciple.
"If so.... then we'll just have to wait until their spell runs out of mana," said a third disciple.
"No, this is not the work of a mage nor an archmage...." spoke Ooro nervously.
"I do not detect any mana other than what's naturally in the air...." he added.
Everyone near him including some knights and soldiers went quiet.
"Since it is not magic, there's no way to tell how long this attack would last. By my calculations, our combined barrier would only last for a couple dozen more seconds...." spoke Ooro grimly.
"T-then.... are we doomed?" Asked Aurea.
"Not necessarily, I have a plan. But in doing so, only a few of us here would be saved," spoke Ooro.
****
After more or less a full minute, the constant bombardment had finally stopped.
The decimated village left piles of rubble and corpses.
Soon, vampire soldiers scoured the site.
"I found a survivor!!" Yelled a daywalker soldier.
"I found survivors here as well!!!" Yelled another.
Lucky, having just arrived, noticed that the amount of survivors exceeded his expectations.
Dozens of survivors were being found buried under rubble and corpses by the second.
What was most noticeable was their distribution area.
The further away from the center, the more survivors were being found.
'The bombardment was too concentrated....' thought Lucky.
Most of the bombs detonated within the encampment after adjusting the catapults' aims.
This was done in order to eliminate the most dangerous opponents, the mages.
'If this many had survived, then there must be some that escaped....' he thought.
Thus, a sizable amount of enemy soldiers had definitely escaped Otur during the bombardment.
"Elena!! Separate five squads and make them search the nearest perimeter. The search radius should be within 500 meters. Kill any surviving enemy units!" Ordered Lucky.
"Understood!!" Replied Elena.
'There might be some that escape, but as long as I reduce the amount of escapees, the news shouldn't reach the nobles that fast. Let's also just hope the King is busy enough with the civil war to ignore us longer,' thought Lucky.
After a few dozen minutes had passed, Elena and her five squads returned.
"Is it finished? How many escaped?" Asked Lucky.
"Of course, we managed to eliminate around 220 escapees," answered Elena.
"Oh, a-and I want to make a request," she hastily added.
"Hmm? What do you want to request?" Asked Lucky.
"Ummm, I want to turn all the survivors here into my kin. I have realized that Oer needs more manpower, more manpower than we currently have by a factor of 10. We don't have to worry about insubordinance either since they're going to be kin," she explained.
"Wish granted," jested Lucky.
"Really?"
"Of cour- OOF!!"
Without letting Lucky finish his sentence, she immediately hugged him as hard as she could.
'Was she jealous of Ella's huge number of kin?? W-wait, I can't breathe....' thought Lucky.
After tapping on her to signal her to stop, Lucky was finally able to breathe again.
"Phew, please remember your strength...." he said.
"...."
Embarassed, Elena blushed, went quiet, and just nodded to him.
'Cute....' he thought.
****
A couple hours later, Lucky, Elena, the vampire soldiers, and Elena's newly turned kin left Otur.
The village-turned-encampment was finally desolate.
Or was it?
Soon, the sun was arising.
Then, a pair of green hands emerged out of the dirt ground of Otur.
Then, a dozen more pair of green hands emerged.
Six mages and seven knights had survived the bombardment.
Their plan was successful.
Using aura, the knights had dug through the ground as fast as they could and entered the small hole.
Then, the mages entered and used Earth magic to bury themselves deep underground.
Oxygen was sparse, but thankfully for them, it could be generated using magic.
And to prevent the ground from collapsing on them, the mages hardened the soil using earth magic, creating a dome structure to support the impromptu cave.
To hide the traces, the soldiers above had become sacrifices.
The plan was enacted so quickly that most of the nearby soldiers were left behind without knowing.
Hell, some knights were also left in the dark due to their far proximity.
But hey, what could be done?
They had to choose whether to safe themselves or risk dying with the rest.
"Master...." spoke one of Ooro's disciples.
"I know. We have lost," replied Ooro knowingly.
"Damn it!!!" Screamed Aurea.
He was one of the few surviving knights, excluding the ones that have been turned into Elena's kin.
"I will pay these revolting sacks of filthy blood one day!!!" He yelled.
"Phew, calm down," said Ooro.
"I CAN'T!!! What am I supposed to tell Lord Balor? That I failed to protect his son, but I myself survived?" Yelled Aurea.
In fact, the fat nobleman that had died in Otur's village chief's house, was the son of his liege, Count Balor.
The other surviving knights were also failures as they had failed in protecting their lords as well. Some were the children of the one they served, whilst others were close relatives.
Suffice to say, they had majorly fucked up the attack.
And it wasn't even their own fault.
If it had been a typical new vampire colony, the losses wouldn't have been this high.
Hell, they would have won with such insanely high numbers.
The mages had even prepared buff spells that could prevent the army from turning into vampires or ghouls, but it was all useless.